Get rich quick: become an online teacher

Will Oremusv (via Slate/ SMH) |
June 25, 2013

How a freelance web developer made $490,000 in just 18 months posting lectures online.

If I have any concern with Udemy, it's the risk that it may overpromise and underdeliver in some cases, not only for its students but for its teachers. Bastos may not have credentials, but he possesses both an extremely marketable knowledge base and an obvious knack for online teaching. Not everyone shares that combination, and those who don't may find themselves overmatched and undercompensated if they try to replicate his success. Udemy will also need to make good on its pledges of quality control in order to assure students that their money won't go to waste. Then again, the same could be said of professional development seminars - and Udemy has the advantage of a user-rating system to separate the good courses from the bad. "If the instructor isn't up to snuff - if something fell through our gaps - it's quickly pointed out by the students," Thiru said, "and that course is not going to be very visible on Udemy in the future."

Forget get-rich-quick, then. The opportunity that sites such as Udemy offer is better summed up as get-rich-if-you're-really-good. It's not such a novel concept in most fields - just rather unusual for education.